Is Arms 3 the new game for me?

[SSIXS 0]

I travel a lot for work and I'm searching for a new FPS game to enjoy when I'm in places with garbage internet.  I've watched a number of videos and Arma looks intriguing.

 

What I'm specifically looking for is an FPS with decent weapon customization when it comes to choices in sights/optics on AR's as well as DMR's and SR's,  that I can play MP with/against a  decent AI while I'm away from home, and online in MP PVP when I'm not traveling.

 

I've played through single player campaigns in games such as COD, Battlefield, Homefront and such, but find the pre-scripted aspect of gameplay underwhelming. I much prefer MP game modes such as CTF, Conquest or objective team based play with myself and bots against a team of bots. For the past few years I've been playing UT2004 mods,  BF2, Project Reality in local co-op and a couple COD titles against bots when I'm traveling, and it's just getting stale.

 

So I'm looking for something new.

 

Does anyone know if the CTF mod for Arma 3 can be played with myself and some AI against an AI team? 

 

Are there some other good mods with a decent AI or single player aspects to Vanilla Arma that aren't pre-scripted and feel like they're developed by some Hollywood film maker?

 

Thanks

[mistyronin 1181]

Arma 3 is probably the most realistic fps on the market (besides the setting). Meaning brace yourself, because you will have to use your brain besides your reflexes.

The SP vanilla campaign gives you a lot of freedom, and IMHO it's really fun. Some may find it really hard and by no means its a FPS on rails.

Obviously with mods you can get real settings and increase the realism to the point that some consider even absurd. Not for everyone.

If you are really interested in military simulation the best choice is to join a mil-sim unit.

And the best part is the mission editor where you can in few min create any interesting setting.

[froggyluv 2130]

 Get ready for a whole new addiction -sounds like this is exactly what your looking for. If you HATE Hollywood, you've come to the right place. Hell sometimes I dont even like this game and yet I still cant stop loading it up everyday...

[Von Quest 1161]

Yes.

ArmA is hard to describe, to someone who is brand new. It's way too massive of a game. The word 'game' does not even get close to the depth of the entire experience. It's more of a complex hobby than anything else. You can build, design, download, experiment, and play any way you always dreamt of.

SCUBA, Skydive, Aviation, Infantry, Armor, Sniper, Command & Control, Medical, Role-Play, Ballistics, Drones, MP, Campaigns, CQB, Game Design, Explosives, Mods, Unlimited Weapons, Vehicles, Full Simulation, Dozens of Terrains and Maps, Equipment, Radios, Weather, and the list goes on and on.

It's worth the tiny $60 investment. As frogs said, its your next addiction! So, to answer your question... YES!

[suds420 179]

I would say yes. The best thing about Arma 3 for me, besides the mods, is the mission editor. I have garbage internet as well, and because of that I've spent most of my 990 hours in Arma 3 making and playing my own missions in the editor(or just messing around). You aren't just limited to official missions and user created ones you can find on this and other sites. With a little know how you can make pretty much any type of mission/scenario you can think of.

[Ranwer135 308]

Very highly recommended to get.

 

 

I first got ArmA 2 back in 2009 and I was hooked, even still when Arma 3 released.

 

 

The download size for installation you are facing is about 7 GB. But for me, I got it done by simply sitting in a car next to Bunnings.  :lol:

 

Honestly, it is a great game. You can make your own addons, mods, weapons, textures, missions...it goes beyond your head. It is also based of Visual Basic, so anything can be done in the game as long as you got the mind to do so.  ;)

 

As for me, I am now on a career path to join Bohemia Interactive Simulations.  B)

[semiconductor 309]

Probably not, judging from the gamemodes you listed. Arma is slow-paced large-scale game and its AI designed with realistic behaviour in mind, not CTF/DM/any other dynamic gamemode set in small area, so they will not behave in a way suitable for such types of missions. Also, AI isn't very good in cities and extremely poor in CQB.

PvP is not ideal either — there is too many engine "features" to exploit starting from seeing/walking through walls ending with taking no damage after 20m fall. What is worse, there is (afaik) only one non-survival, non-freeroam non-modded PvP gamemode widely available - King Of The Hill by Sa-Marta. In fact, if you want to play in MP something besides Wasteland (survival), Epoch (zombie survival) and Altis Life (GTASA MP) you have to join one of the existing groups or create one yourself.

Arma 3 is indeed a great and unique game that offers unlimited possibilities to create (if you're into spending days in Editor :D) but it isn't similar to the games you played.

[zimms 22]

Just a heads up, Arma needs a good CPU. Since you mentioned traveling I assume you play on a laptop? Hope you can achieve a decent performance on it.

[roberthammer 582]

I would recommend playing ArmA 2 first before A3 - then if you like it then move on to ArmA 3

[rundll.exe 12]

Just a heads up, Arma needs a good CPU. Since you mentioned traveling I assume you play on a laptop? Hope you can achieve a decent performance on it.

 

that's what popped up in my mind too. I have seen some people here playing Arma3 on a laptop, but keep in mind that you need quite some power for Arma 3 to be enjoyable (Good CPU (fast i5), 8GB RAM, decent GPU, and an SSD).

For the game, don't buy it if you want to play small scale CTF. It's possible, but it's not fun with AI. However, there are numerous gamemodes that might interest you, like End Game or CTI (Base building/RTS combined with FPS) . 

If you like realistic COOP games (SP or MP), this really is the game to buy without a doubt.

[jw custom 56]

Like mentioned if you really wanna enjoy this game you'll need a high-end computer especially the CPU is imoprtant. You mentioned playing while traveling which makes me think labtop which often ain't the best way to play ArmA.

 

Yes there is tons of mods and missions for MP and SP.... insanely amounts B)

 

This game has a high learning curve but is very rewarding when you master it.

 

There is ofcourse also the mission editor if you are into such stuff, but becareful, it's a time stealer (i speak from experience) :P 

[SSIXS 0]

Thanks for the replies guys, greatly appreciate it.

 

I'm not dead set on CTF or looking for small arena type gameplay, I just mentioned it because CTF happens to be a favorite game mode from my old Quake, UT and BF modding days, and I noticed someone has created a mission that supports it.. I've never really cared for small CQB maps, which is why I've really gotten into Project Reality over the past few years. The only thing PR lacks for me is the ability to custom tailor a weapon for whatever role I wish to play.

 

I'd like something to really sink my teeth into that can grow with me. Having vast expansive maps and an editor is what really peaked my interest.

 

As for performance, I'm not expecting an unrealistic 120 FPS or even a constant 60 FPS...but the laptop I'm playing on isn't really a snail. Would an i7-4980 with 2 GTX 980's in SLI and 24 GB of RAM be enough for sustained playable framerates if I dial back on some of the eye candy in graphics?

[jw custom 56]

As for performance, I'm not expecting an unrealistic 120 FPS or even a constant 60 FPS...but the laptop I'm playing on isn't really a snail. Would an i7-4980 with 2 GTX 980's in SLI and 24 GB of RAM be enough for sustained playable framerates if I dial back on some of the eye candy in graphics?

 

Holy smoke, you got a truck to carry that labtop around?

 

I'm playing @ 2560 x 1080p with most thing on ultra/highest seeting except viewdistance on a few other settings and it's running fine.

 

Forgot to mention i've playing with: i7-4700k, GTX 780, 32GB RAM.

[chortles 263]

I'm not dead set on CTF or looking for small arena type gameplay, I just mentioned it because CTF happens to be a favorite game mode from my old Quake, UT and BF modding days, and I noticed someone has created a mission that supports it.. I've never really cared for small CQB maps, which is why I've really gotten into Project Reality over the past few years. The only thing PR lacks for me is the ability to custom tailor a weapon for whatever role I wish to play.

If you're cool with a Project Reality style then Arma 3 is definitely closer to up your alley! Note though that as far as weapon customizing in Arma, it's mostly "either/or" (suppressor on muzzle, bipod-or-not underbarrel, and visible light/infrared laser on the side rail) with gameplay-functional variety being mainly reserved for sights; also, underbarrel grenade launchers (UGL) are currently still a separate weapon variant.

Overall the best way to get started with Arma 3 once you have it would be to go into the main menu's LEARN option and run through "Bootcamp" (a four-mission prologue to the SP campaign "The East Wind"), run through the VR Training, or just take gear and vehicles for a figurative spin in the Virtual Arsenal, before attempting to give the SP campaign a go. Without spoilers I'll note that TEW's first Episode "Survive" is the closest that the campaign comes to a COD/BF/Homefront-style "pre-scripted" rail shooter, but in "Adapt" things almost immediately become more open.

[SSIXS 0]

Thanks for all the input and suggestions guys, just picked it up and installing now.

 

Any recommendations on mods that might be similar in playstyle to Project Reality, where it's NOT run n gun with kids quick scoping all over the place?

 

I'm also guessing that mods have to be downloaded manually from sites, and won't just download from servers I connect to?

[Ranwer135 308]

Like mentioned if you really wanna enjoy this game you'll need a high-end computer especially the CPU is imoprtant. You mentioned playing while traveling which makes me think labtop which often ain't the best way to play ArmA.

 

That is in fact wrong.

 

I'm running 29 FPS with these specs on my laptop: (Anti-alizing and view distance is at lowest, but rest is at maximum)

 

Computer type: ACER

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 3556U @ 1.80GHz 1.70GHz

Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB

System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

[Joe98 90]

Note the Virtual Arsenal allows you to use any weapon and have a selection of sights and other attachments to make almost any combination you can imagine.

 

Further I would suggest that you play with the vanilla game and get the hang of it before installing any mods.

 

Every now and then a mod can cause some other thing to not work - and you will be frustrated about the issue.

[jw custom 56]

That is in fact wrong.

 

I'm running 29 FPS with these specs on my laptop: (Anti-alizing and view distance is at lowest, but rest is at maximum)

 

Computer type: ACER

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 3556U @ 1.80GHz 1.70GHz

Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB

System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

 

I have read thousands of posts about performance issues so just telling people that this game runs greatly on minimum specs wouldn't be fair.

[Mirek 166]

 

 

Any recommendations on mods that might be similar in playstyle to Project Reality, where it's NOT run n gun with kids quick scoping all over the place?

 

 

 

Your basic mustHave mods are CBA, and ACE3, also an radiomod is recommended.  (some people will tell you that you dont need ACE, dont trust them. Arma is not good without ACE).

 

For multiplayer, i strongly recomend getting to one of the clans. Look for ACE3 clans. 

[chortles 263]

Thanks for all the input and suggestions guys, just picked it up and installing now.

 

Any recommendations on mods that might be similar in playstyle to Project Reality, where it's NOT run n gun with kids quick scoping all over the place?

 

I'm also guessing that mods have to be downloaded manually from sites, and won't just download from servers I connect to?

As a quick note, there's a difference between custom scenarios/match types and what are generally considered gameplay/asset mods, the former of which sometimes require the latter to be run, though they sometimes get lumped together in colloquial speaking (i.e. calling the King of the Hill custom match type a mod).

As examples, King of the Hill or EUTW are adversarial/competitive/Team vs. Team (TvT) match types that can be played just by connecting to a server that runs either -- that is, they will download from the servers that you connect to -- while Tactical Battlefield servers will require you to have the corresponding mod(s) running, but the latter has both wildly different gameplay and content ('maps', vehicles, weapons) thanks to said mods -- indeed, it's probably the closest you'll get to Project Reality in Arma -- while custom scenarios/match types that don't require mods are limited to however-creative use of the assets (equipment, vehicles, weapons) that Bohemia delivered in the base game and DLCs and custom rules.

Due to that last part about match type or mod-specific gameplay differences, I'll disavow mirek's answer as absolutely unsuited for anyone new to Arma and second Joe98's advice about getting the hang of the vanilla game. Do note that Bohemia did put the crew seats of the Huron/Taru helicopter variants and normal pickup of five rifles and two medium machine guns behind the DLC paywall -- plus a sometimes tendency to have *ahem* adware pop-ups when looking at them and some personal gear without buying -- but these are omitted from the Virtual Arsenal/Garage.

[rundll.exe 12]

Your basic mustHave mods are CBA, and ACE3, also an radiomod is recommended.  (some people will tell you that you dont need ACE, dont trust them. Arma is not good without ACE).

 

For multiplayer, i strongly recomend getting to one of the clans. Look for ACE3 clans. 

 

You dont need ACE

 

 

 :D   No I'm pretty serious. ACE adds another layer of complexity, while arma is already complex enough. Add it later when you're comfortable with the game. My advice: Run without mods at first, and start with the campaign. It teaches you the basics, while granting some nice firefights.  

And the one advice: DONT GIVE UP .  The game can be very frustrating, because of the completely different playstyle compared to what you're used to. It's hard. The controls are weird. The Interface is horrible.  But it's worth every struggle in the long run.

 

Good luck!

[ProfTournesol 956]

And please try the mission editor, the best tool of the OFP/ArmA series.

[Broseph_Stalin90 72]

^ Only reason I play ArmA haha.

[joostsidy 682]

> agree! Not only do I hardly play multiplayer, I'm currently working on a mission that doesn't require ANY player! It runs by itself, winning with the BLUFOR side. You can just hop in any unit from the editor and fight along or do nothing :-) It's a great way to play the 'average grunt' sometimes, like the BLUFOR autorifle man. Sadly, in general, the direction of the series has moved to MP infantry and away from large scale combined arms, but it's still possible to make impressive dynamic fights.

[instagoat 133]

I think if you like diverse types of gameplay and aren't afraid to learn a completely different style of game, go right ahead. And do not try Arma 2, for the sake of mary, because it will turn you off. It is -really- feeling dated, compared to anythign else, and -especially- to arma 3.

 

I've posted a small breakdown of features here: https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/184067-is-arma-3-a-serious-game/?p=2902534

 

Most of which no other game offers. Many offer parts, but not as many in a single package, and if they do, they usually are mods.